Parmigiani Fleurier is the official partner of the Hot air balloon festival in Chateau-d’Oex, a town located in the Canton du Vaud.
If the noise and levels of ejected CO2 are lower than the usual car races sponsored by watchmaking brands, the adrenalin rush is still there.
This type of event, with its outdated technology, its slowness and its poetry, matches perfectly the almost similar milestones in Hot air Balloon and watchmaking history.
After a week of snow, we were lucky to benefit from a wonderful sunny day for the Parmigiani's balloon take-off.
Many balloons were afloat this day, a rainbow of warm air in the coldness of the Alps.
Seen from the ground, it looks cool; when on board, you’d better not be suffering from vertigo, as the hot air balloon gains altitude smoothly but very quickly.
The pilot of the Parmigiani Fleurier's balloon has been flying aerostats professionally for more than 20 years.
Staring from ground level, 3000ft, we reached 10,000ft, an altitude were the clouds underneath look like a white ocean studded with mountaintops, like as many reefs in a vaporous sea.
Seen from this altitude, the other balloons look like colorful whales, swimming peacefully from the depths toward the surface.
After a one-hour flight, we landed in the valley, stacked the balloon in the Parmigiani Defender, and got together for a brunch; after much effort comes comfort
